This is Part III of a multiple-part interview with Brian “Brian-Man” Stevenson of Spy Monkey Creations, conducted by PGPoA contributor VENENOR, about SMC’s brand-new toy line, the Weaponeers of Monkaa. You can read Part I here and Part II here. –PG

VENENOR: It’s great that fans of the Weaponeers are taking to the evolution of the Crystal Gohlem. At the end of the Prologue we saw that the revived Crystal Gohlem accompanied the Stranger back to his world. I’m looking forward for that tale and the story’s progression. I’m especially interested since it could lead to a much more evolved version where he ultimately becomes fully Gearo.

Now, can you give us an insider’s view on the development process starting with the concept stage leading up to final product?

BRIAN STEVENSON: The entire process took around 5 months. That’s from initial concepts to final product on the table at Power-Con. In the early days of Spy Monkey Creations we wanted to make figures. They were going to be 3¾” scale and similar to the JLU figures. We scrapped that idea because it was going to be too centered on customization. There really didn’t seem to be that many customizers out that could keep a line like that alive. From there the fantasy based weapons came about after demands from fans saw the early custom weapons we made for ourselves. Those did very well but as a company we just didn’t feel comfortable surviving by only producing swords and shields for He-Man figures. There are companies and groups out there, like ours, which fit into this mold as a third party company making stuff for other toylines. We just didn’t want to rely too heavily on another company and solely continue being third party because we wanted to build our own cohesive toyline. In order for us to really grow and become something that isn’t considered third party we decided to take our next step. (more…)

This is Part II of a multiple-part interview with Brian “Brian-Man” Stevenson of Spy Monkey Creations, conducted by PGPoA contributor VENENOR, about SMC’s brand-new toy line, the Weaponeers of Monkaa. You can read Part I here. –PG

VENENOR: The suggested builds you’ve posted so far are very cool, especially alongside the characters. One thing with this launch that I really like is the included trading cards. They look really great and differ from what I’ve seen from similar lines that go with the header cards attached to the bags.

BRIAN STEVENSON: A lot times those headers get tossed so we wanted to provide something different with the artwork of these figures. We’re very fortunate to be friends with some amazing artists and illustrators that have different skill sets than we do. Their help and collaboration on this line has really helped the look and feel for these characters. (more…)

It was over a year ago when I last spoke with the Spy Monkey crew, and the seeds were being planted for their venture into overseas-produced toys with their original Armory set. Going from their in-house resin weapons to injection-molded PVC weapons with interchangeable parts was just the beginning. On October 1, they released their very first lineup of action figures – the Weaponeers of Monkaa.

I had the pleasure of speaking with one of the toy-forging machines, Brian “Brian-Man” Stevenson. This will be Part I of the conversation with Brian that should give you all more insight into the line and more than a few possibilities going forward. (more…)